I have standalone internet with them. It's slow and the price just went up because they added some bullshit service charge that a judge ruled they couldn't legally charge their landline customers, whom they tried to foist it on first. Basically whinging that they're losing sooo much money due to people dropping land phones, so yeah, f**k you internet customers, you get to "make up for it" (which really means, further fill our overflowing coffers.)

Then there's the crap they pull with billing. They were taking a debit from my checking account every month and didn't have a problem with that. Then I had changes to my income and needed to try to make other payment arrangements with them. At that time I was informed, when they realized the account number they had been debiting wasn't a credit card, that I shouldn't have been "getting away with" paying as I had been anyway. They said they will only allow stand-alone internet accounts if you pay by credit card, of which I didn't have one at the time. Otherwise, I was supposed to add landline phone service and get charged what I don't have for something I don't want. OK, that did get worked out after some hassle--I was given "special permission" to pay by check. However, then they proceded to double charge my account by puttng the same charge through as both a one-time payment AND monthly autopay.

Speaking of autopay, I have this with other companies and they take the money out of my account ON the due date. Verizon, though? They take it out 10 DAYS BEFORE! Due to the changes in my financial situation, including when I get paid, this became unacceptable. So, I went off autopay and was paying by actually mailing a check for quite a while. I foolishly forgot that's how they operate when I recently obtained a Visa debit card and set it up for autopay. My memory was jogged after the subsequent havoc wrought on my bank account last month. I immediately went to Verizon's website to de-enroll from autopay. Correction: I THOUGHT I de-enrolled. Guess what just happened again?! Did they figure as long as the debit card info is still on my account they can just go ahead and charge it anyway? Or is their website just a piece of shit? Both?

I wanted to send them an email to tell them off and found out that they have eliminated that route of communication in favor of an inefficient chat system that keeps people on hold for an hour or more...if they have the time or patience to even hang in there that long. I hate Time-Warner, too, which is the only other choice where I live, but I may switch to them anyway because I am fed up with Verizon's BS.